In 1957, officials of the annual World’s Champion Duck Calling Contest in Stuttgart organized the first Rice Bowl. Due in part to the increasing popularity of college football at the time, it was intended as a postseason game to match two of the best small-college football teams in the state.

An agreement was made with the (now defunct) Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference (AIC) to have its reigning conference champion play a team to be determined. The games would be played at Stuttgart High School’s Harmon Field.

The Arkansas A&M Boll Weevils, 1957 AIC champions, agreed to play in the inaugural game. After dominating the AIC that season, Coach Willis “Convoy” Leslie’s Boll Weevils entered the game with a near-perfect 9-1-0 record, the only loss being to nonconference Delta State (Miss.) by a missed extra point (14-13) in week three of the regular season.

Arkansas Tech, coached by Sam Hindsman — who was more known at the time for his dominating basketball teams — was invited to be the Weevils’ opponent. The Wonder Boys brought a so-so 5-4-0 record into the game having played a tough regular-season schedule that included Memphis State, Southeast Missouri State and Austin Peay (Tenn.). An added dynamic to the matchup was that ATU had defeated A&M’s loss opponent that season, Delta State, by a 14-0 score in Russellville in week seven.

The game contained more than just a little mojo since both Leslie and Hindsman were head football coaches at their respective school for the same exact five-year period (1954-58). Leslie’s teams won or shared four AIC championships between 1955-58 while amassing an overall record of 34-11-1 (.750). Hindsman’s Wonder Boys won or shared two AIC titles (1954, 1958) and posted a record of 31-16-2 (.653) over the same five-year span.

Due to alleged conference violations concerning the “subsidization and recruiting” of players, Arkansas Tech, a perennial AIC gridiron powerhouse, was in the second year of a two-year hiatus from the AIC (along with Southern State College, now Southern Arkansas University). While technically maintaining its AIC affiliation, ATU did not compete for the league title in football (or any other sport) for the 1956 and 1957 school years. Since Tech didn’t play a full a conference schedule during those seasons, the state papers in Little Rock billed the 1957 Rice Bowl as determining the “mythical state [small-college] champion.”

The Wonder Boys were led by future NFL all-Pro, Eddie Meador from Russellville. The team’s offense was effective if not spectacular under the guidance of quarterback Winkie May, an all-AIC performer from Sheridan. ATU’s defense played a great game and surrendered minimal yardage to the Boll Weevils in sloppy conditions that hindered A&M’s fleet-footed running backs as well as their All-AIC quarterback, Don Sawyer.

Despite a fumble recovery on the Tech 5 in the waning minutes of the game by all-AIC back (and future Oklahoma assistant and ASU head coach) Larry Lacewell, A&M lost 19-7 as the Wonder Boys claimed the “mythical” state small-college title.

In 1958, the AIC expressed concern about its future participation in the Rice Bowl due to the financial burden the game placed on the participating schools. Gate receipts from the 1957 contest provided a payout of about $1,400 for each school, which was barely enough to cover expenses to and from the game in Stuttgart.

The Rice Bowl invited an out-of-state opponent to face the AIC champion in 1958 which added to the financial pressures. In response, Stuttgart added 1,500 more seats in an attempt to increase pregame ticket sales.

Arkansas Tech, again as a full-fledged member of the AIC, was invited to play in the 1958 Rice Bowl. While ATU and Arkansas A&M shared the 1958 AIC title, the Wonder Boys were selected based on their 13-7 win over A&M in the regular season at Monticello. Both teams finished the season with decent if not spectacular records of 7-2-0.

As the year before, the Wonder Boys relied on their star senior all-everything back Meador, who rushed for more than 1,000 yards for the second consecutive season and 14 TDs while being named an all-American. There was one downer going into the game, however, as ATU entered the 1958 Rice Bowl on the heels of a 50-7 shellacking to Arkansas State in their regular-season finale in Russellville.

A good Louisiana College (8-2-0), now a member of NCAA Division III, was selected to face the Wonder Boys. Coached by J.W. Patrick in his only season as coach at the school located in Pineville, La., the Wildcats’ only defeats in 1958 were against higher classification opponents (Memphis State and McNeese State).

The Wildcats rushed for more than 250 yards against a banged-up Wonder Boy defense while Meador was held to 51 yards on the ground, making for a frustrating 60 minutes for ATU. The Wildcats won easily 39–12 before an estimated 3,000 cold and mostly miserable fans.

After two less than spectacular events, the Stuttgart-based Rice Bowl was metaphorically a mortally wounded duck as poor weather and low gate receipts appeared to sound the death knell for the game. No game was played in 1959.

In 1960, the Rice Bowl was resurrected for one more game. Arkansas Tech, the best team in the AIC, declined to play in the 1960 Rice Bowl, opting instead to play in another new bowl game for “littler colleges,” the first (and only) Great Southwest Bowl in Grand Prairie, Texas.